Pipe Cleaner Zoo Animals

I don’t know about you, but Sundays in our house are for constructing pipe cleaner zoo animals! Nothing gets the adrenaline pumping faster then twisting and turning small wires with fuzz into elegant  beast of beauty.

What we have here is a rare breed of zebra know in the safari as the “Mullet” Zebra. And next to him is the endangered “Afro” Giraffe.

Good times.

If It’s Not Raccoons, It’s Groundhogs!

Last year it was the Raccoons in the chimney that drove me mad. This years it’s the groundhog that has decided to have babies under the front porch.

Me and the kids the other morning sat and watched 6 babies and mommy eating in the front yard. Of course the kids are gushing over how cute they are. Jack even said. “Oh their just so cute I want to hug them” Which is not something that Jack says.

None of this would bother me, except the fact they have eaten my entire garden. Everything!. My lettuce, swiss chard, green beans, snap peas, carrots, all gone.

Jackson changed his tune when he saw they ate his cucumbers!.

He said “I can’t believe it, they ate my cucumbers”

I said ” I know Jack, they ate everything”

Jack replied ” Lets screw them in their heads”

Not so cute now are they.

Raspberry Jam Homeschooler

You could be a hippie, a yuppie, or consider your self granola or crunchy. But there is a new term I would like to broaden your horizons with.

Raspberry Jam Homeschooler

If you’ve never heard of the term, it’s because your not on the “in”. These people may be classified as people who don’t watch TV for six hours a day, Don’t use cellphones to check fantasy sports team, don’t twitter their exact location, don’t consider texting a primary language, or have less then 20 friends on facebook.

If you see someone who worries you about these anti-social behaviors, please take good notes. To help you classify these people refer to the helpful bullet points below. They might be a Raspberry Jam Homeschooler if they:

• Have no idea who the winner of American Idol is
• Have more toys made out of wood then Plastic
• Have only 1 TV
• Think they can educate their child better then the state
• Have canning jars, filled or emptied, or canning paraphernalia around the house
• Have a copy of the Bill of Rights or believe in the Constitution
• Live within 10 miles of a Grocery and still have a garden
• Can pronounce all the ingredients in the food they eat
• Have more fines on their library card then blockbuster card.

If you spot a Raspberry Jam Homeschooler in the wild, don’t be alarmed their not harmful, but you may observe some weird behavior.

Chia Thug

Nothing says summer fun more then growing your own Chia Saddam.

Emery is 4!

Today is Emery’s birthday

He’s four, and proud of it.He even feels taller today.

And since he’s 4 now he’s going to start using the bathroom, and spitting out his toothpaste when he brushes his teeth.

Thats the price you pay for being a big kid.

Talking Machine!

Emery has been an animal lately talking, which if you read the Weekly Walnut you would know.

We are trying to get him to say everyone in the families name, which is a lot harder then it sounds. Mainly because he doesn’t talk.

So a couple days ago he had 4 out of 5, and the only one he couldn’t say was Jack. He has a hard time with the “J” sound.

So Tammy told him that if he would say Jack, she would buy him a krispy Kreme Donut.

Sure enough, he said all 5 names in a row, followed by signing the word “brown” and “Big”.

Telling us what kind of donut he wanted, a big chocolate one!

Wii Bowling

Wii Bowling

For some light hearted news, I’m not all gloom and doom.

The Kids got a wii for Christmas, and as their father it’s my job to make sure everything works.

So after about 17 games of bowling, a dozen rounds of golf, 6 boxing matches, 23 sets of tennis, and 5 games of baseball, it’s safe to say everythings in working order.

And yes I was swore the next morning.

I’ve reached wii bowling Pro status with a 1032 skill level and a best game of 221!

I’m waiting for some real competition.

A Good Old fashioned Mini Vacation

IKEA mini pencils & TAZO Tea

So me and the family took a mini vacation on Friday and Saturday. First we went to Lebanon, Ohio for “A Day Out With Thomas“. Which is a 3 year olds fantasy. They set up a bunch of tents and booths, you walk around playing with Thomas the Tank engine play tables, getting Thomas Tattoo’s, and riding on a real train.

Then we took a short trip over to IKEA. Which is responsible for the cup full of mini golf pencils. I have an office supply fetish and they just prance these little pencil stations around all over the place, it was more then I could take. So I helped myself to a couple.

Then we checked into a Hotel a couple miles South of Cincinnati. The Hyatt Place. maybe the nicest Hotel I will ever stay in. They offered a deal, which is the only reason we stayed there. You got 4 tickets for the aquarium in Newport, Kentucky. They proudly serve Starbucks coffee with their continental breakfast for free! So I helped myself to some of their TAZO tea, seeing as how I also have a tea fetish.

Then we head over to the Newport Aquarium for my first visit. It was fun, a nice walk through at your own pace. Emery didn’t not like the dark glass tunnels with creepy music. Thats one way to start an autistic fit. But boy did he love looking on the map and updating you every time you entered a new area!

Jack thought everything was awesome! the ugly the fish the cooler it was. The best part by far was the very end. They have a shark tank where you can reach your hand in and pet a shark as it swims by. Jack was all up for this, and wasted no time. Abby was not so sure. So I showed her by petting a couple sharks that these were nice sharks, and they weren’t going to bite. She was trying so hard to brave it up, she’d say ” OK, Daddy i want to pet one” then one gets with in 2 feet and she starts shaky and crying and pulls her hand out.

We repeated this game 5 or 6 times, until she asked me to hold her hand and touch it with her. So i grab her hand, and when the first shark came by we reached into the water and touched it. That put her over the edge, she starts crying uncontrollably. At this point I notice the employee working the shark tank eye balling me, like I was trying to feed her to the shark or something.

luckily Tammy came by and scooped Abby up and calmed her down. That was it, excepted for  the ride home from Cincinnati. That should have taken less then 2 hours. But thanks to an accident that shut down I-71 North for hours! it took us 6 and a half hours to get hour.

The bright side was we got to stop our car on the freeway and get out. So we walked over to an under pass to explore, and found a wrencth and a dead squirrel. What kids going to forget that vacation!

Venus Fly Trap’s are Cool!

Venus Fly Trap

We got a Venus Fly Trap last week at Lowe’s.

The boys have been excited every since, they can’t wait to feed it.

This morning we saw a fly around the window, so I hit it with a newspaper.

The great part was, it wasn’t dead yet, it was still moving around.

So Jack picked it up and put it into one of the traps.

Then we just waited.

At first it started to close very slowly, then it shut entirely closed.

Jack said ” That’s so cool, it’s alive!”

What does Michael Phelps eat for breakfast?

Baby Mermaids